Batistuta: Argentina's all-time record marksman Gabriel Batistuta, 40, could soon be scoring goals for Boca Juniors on horseback. Batistuta has taken up polo and is expected to feature in a new quartet, Boca Polo Team, to be launched later this year.
Wolves: Newly-promoted Premier League side Wolves opened their Australian pre-season tour with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory yesterday. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake netted the winner in the second minute.
Japan friendlies: Japan have scheduled World Cup warm-up games with the Netherlands, Scotland and African nations, Ghana and Togo, later this year. Takeshi Okada's side will face the Dutch on Sept. 5 before playing Ghana on Sept. 9. Japan will host Scotland on Oct. 10 in Yokohama and Togo in Oita four days later.
Coyne: Perth Glory netted a third current Australian international, the club said, with defender Chris Coyne agreeing to join the A-League side for three years. Glory made a formal offer to Coyne after his release from English League One club Colchester United on Thursday, and the player has confirmed his intention to play for his home town team. Coyne, 30, played 13 seasons overseas including stints with Luton Town in England and in Scotland with Dundee.
Siemens: German engineering giant Siemens said it had landed around a billion euros' worth of orders to improve infrastructure in South Africa as the country gears up to host World Cup 2010. "Most of these orders are connected with the expansion of the country's energy infrastructure," the company said.
Basket, NBA: The Detroit Pistons named John Kuester as their new head coach, the National Basketball Association team announced yesterday. Kuester has been an assistant coach for a half dozen teams since 1995, most recently with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season. He signed a multi-year contract with the Pistons, details of which were not disclosed.
Boxing: Namibia's world lightweight champion Paulus Moses will put his WBA title on the line against Japanese veteran Takehiro Shimada on July 25. The fight would take place in the Namibian capital Windhoek, Shimada's gym said. The 37-year-old is bidding to become Japan's oldest world champion but will start as a heavy underdog against the unbeaten Moses, who is six years younger than his challenger. Known as "The Hitman", Moses won the lightweight crown following a unanimous points decision over Japan's Yusuke Kobori in Yokohama at the start of the year.
Tennis: Doctors have diagnosed a "mystery" ailment that has plagued Jelena Dokic since the French Open as a common viral illness, and told the former Australian number one to rest for two weeks. Dokic had blood tests after suffering a dizzy spell in her first round defeat by Germany's Tatjana Malek at Wimbledon. The results that came back earlier this week showed she had mononucleosis, a viral ailment whose symptoms include fever, fatigue and swollen glands, Tennis Australia said.
Olympics: Romanian secretary of state for sport Octavian Bellu said he was resigning in protest at what he termed a shortage of funds and consequent "absence of perspectives". Bellu, a former gymnastics coach, told journalists he believed Olympic sport was on the edge of a "precipice", citing as one irritation a recent government decision to deny the sporting world a slice of profits from the national lottery.